Karndean Blog

Coastal styling on Sydney's northern beaches

A play on natural light with the introduction of subtle texture creates a stylish and retro influence in this apartment, located on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

For interior designer and renovation coordinator Gillian Pembroke, the design process began with an inspired white washed finish, as she tell us: “the client fell in love with a white washed kitchen cupboard and from there it snowballed into sourcing various textures to build the look of the apartment.”

Incorporating an earthy and organic components, whilst avoiding the lime-washed look that’s often overdone in the northern Sydney coast area, Gillian looked to our Opus Magna to establish the required layered and textural look for the apartment.

Having specified Magna a couple of years back in a permanent dwelling houseboat, this beautiful Karndean wood look design was Gillian’s first choice for the flooring.

“The client didn’t need much convincing on Magna,” explained Gillian.

“The colour worked well with the laminate and stone bench chosen for the kitchen, and having removed doors to open up the apartment, I wanted the floor to be the same all the way through.”

“I sent the client a recent restaurant fit-out using Magna and they were so impressed that we decided to run it up the dining room to create a stunning feature wall.”

“To complete the look, I then punctuate different areas of the house with accents, using well placed rugs and clever placement of furnishings.”

Located in the middle level of a large residential block, Karndean was also the ideal choice for it's ease of installation.

“For this type of application, a floating floor was out of the question as it would be too noisy,” commented Gillian.

“Karndean Designflooring is quieter than a floating floor and easy to install. When it comes to the installation of the flooring on the projects I work on, you are only as good as the people and the crew you have. My Karndean installers, Alpha Floors are fantastic and I sleep well when I know I have them on the job.”

We adore the gorgeous and detailed styling of this apartment. What are your favourite aspects about this interior scheme? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You can also see more of Gillian's work by visiting - Style by Gillian on Houzz.